The Crown Point Bulldogs claimed their third straight Wrestling Regional Championship on Saturday afternoon, narrowly beating-out a talented team of Chesterton Trojans 211.5 to 210.0.
Last week, Bulldogs Head Coach Branden Lorek predicted that the team’s regional title defense would come down to a series of duels with the Trojans, and time proved him right. Of the 14 weight class finals, six were matchups between the Chesterton and Crown Point, and Crown Point won four of them.
“It was outstanding wrestling by everybody,” Lorek said. “Chesterton had a great day. They’re a good and well-coached team, but you know, we took care of business. We did our job, knowing the team that won the head-to-heads was going to win. Everyone hustled for extra points and that made the difference for us.”
Lorek pointed to freshman Will Clark, who wrestles at 195-pounds, as one example of that hustle even in a loss by decision to Chesterton Junior Gage DeMarco.
“Chesterton has a really good wrestler there,” he said. “But our guy, a freshman, went a full six minutes. That’s a credit to us, it was a team effort.”
Javen Estrada, a 152-pound senior, also played a key role in claiming the championship with his win by fall over Chesterton Senior Brock Ellis. The Trojan wrestler held the initiative for much of the match, but a well-timed reversal in the final 15 seconds of the match earned Estrada a win by fall and two extra points for his team.
“It was huge, we needed those points,” Lorek said. “It was a great match.”
The Bulldogs qualified 11 wrestlers to next week’s Semi-State Championship, which is set to be held at East Chicago Central High School.
Full Results
Team Scores:
- Crown Point – 211.5
- Chesterton – 210.0
- Lake Central – 75.0
- Valparaiso – 68.0
- Kankakee Valley – 61.0
- La Porte – 56.0
- New Prairie – 38.0
- Wheeler – 32.0
- Knox – 27.0
- Hebron – 15.0
- Glenn – 13.0
- Boone Grove – 8.0
- Lowell – 6.0
- Hanover Central, Illiana Christian, Michigan City, North Judson-San Pierre – 0.0
Wrestlers Qualifying for Semi-State (in order of placement)
106: Ashton Jackson (La Porte), Jonny Cortez (Lake Central), Evan Cruz (Crown Point), Max Walden (New Prairie)
113: Anthony Bahl (Crown Point), Hayden DeMarco (Chesterton), Guillermo Rivera (Lake Central), Jeremy Kranz (Boone Grove)
120: Sergio Lemley (Chesterton), Logan Frazier (Crown Point), Bentley Whitmer (Glenn), Chase Kasprzak (Lake Central)
126: Sam Goin (Crown Point), Caleb Solomey (Kankakee Valley), Stefan Vitello (Valparaiso), Matthew Adamczyk (Hebron)
132: Stephen Roberson (Crown Point), Aidan Torres (Chesterton), Cole Solomey (Kankakee Valley), Nicholas Durall (Wheeler)
138: Jesse Mendez (Crown Point), Ethan Contreras (Chesterton), Alex Bennett (Valparaiso), Damian Ruoff (Wheeler)
145: Ethan Kaiser (Chesterton), Gunnar Grause (Knox), Tyler Tillema (Kankakee Valley), Kenneth Bisping (Lowell)
152: Javen Estrada (Crown Point), Brock Ellis (Chesterton), Aidan Pollitt (Valparaiso), Isaiah Ponce (Lake Central)
160: Orlando Cruz (Crown Point), Jamaal Salary (LaPorte), Brandon Bolin (Chesterton), Neil Johnson (New Prairie)
170: Aiden Sneed (Kankakee Valley) Nick Tattini (Crown Point), Cade Johnson (Chesterton), Dylan Kwiatkowski (Valparaiso)
182: Gavin Layman (Chesterton), Colin Kwiatkowski (Valparaiso), Jake Sues (Lake Central), Jaden Browder (La Porte)
195: Gage DeMarco (Chesterton), Will Clark (Crown Point), Trevor Hoffman (Hebron), Chandler Antrim (Valparaiso)
220: Evan Bates (Chesterton), Michael Degrado (Lake Central), Paul Clark (Crown Point), Devon Duschek (La Porte)
285: Hunter Whitenack (New Prairie), Jonathan Mollencupp (Wheeler), Cody Winkler (Knox), Triston Thompson (La Porte)